


Better late than never

by Chatterbox



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternative Universe: teachers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-31 01:08:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6449458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chatterbox/pseuds/Chatterbox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Sirimus oneshot where they are both teachers at Hogwarts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better late than never

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys :) This is an old thing I modified a bit and decided to post here.

“Siri, are you coming? It’s time for breakfast”, Remus asked for the umpteenth time. Even though he was known to be a very patient man, it was sometimes hard to deal with Sirius’ laziness in the morning.

“I’m coming Moony, just give me a minute will you?” An annoyed Sirius replied. One should always remember not to mess with him in the morning or be ready to face the earth-shattering consequences.

“But, you asked me to give you one minute twenty minutes ago. We will miss breakfast and you know perfectly well that I need to eat properly because of…” he trailed off, still not feeling comfortable talking about his lycanthropy (though, comfortable enough to use it against Sirius, knowing it was hitting where it hurt).

“That’s low, but that’s working”, Sirius declared, leaving the bathroom, from where he had been talking to Remus, to join him. 

“Sorry… I really need to eat or else I will get another lecture from Poppy and, believe it or not, she can be quite frightening sometimes…” Remus informed with a shudder.

“Though, don’t tell anyone I said that or I’ll lose my credibility”, he continued while Sirius and he were exiting their shared room, walking fast towards the great hall.

“Of course Remy, we wouldn’t want our dear students to laugh at you for being afraid of Mrs Pomfrey”, his friend tried to respond with a, dare I say it, serious tone, which was ruined by a chuckle he didn’t quite manage to stifle. 

“Oh yes, laugh while you can, you know I could tell “our dear students” plenty of interesting facts about yourself Padfoot”, Remus threatened with a mischievous glint in his amber eyes. 

Sirius gulped audibly:

“You wouldn’t… Right?” He asked tentatively. 

“Of course not, bloody idiot”, laughed Remus. As if he’d risk upsetting his best friend just to get a good laugh… Plus, he was already laughing enough just by seeing Sirius’ mortified and blushing face.

“Come on, Rem, it isn’t funny”

“Yes it is”, Remus smiled.

Sirius let it go; clearly it wouldn’t get him anywhere to argue… Remus was far better than he was in arguments anyway. Sirius was more one to act than to talk. 

Arriving in the great hall, the boys sat at the staff table, just beside McGonagall, having both been in Gryffondor when they were students. And Sirius, as usual, decided to annoy her a bit:

“Hey Minnie, slept well?” 

“Very well, Sirius”, she answered through gritted teeth.

Sirius turned to Remus and smirked:

“I love this job…”

“Why the sudden enthusiasm?” Questioned Remus with a puzzled look.

“Now I get to call McGonagall Minnie without getting detention”, he sighed contentedly, which made Remus roll his eyes. He sometimes wondered how Sirius became a teacher while being less mature than some (maybe even most) of his students. 

“Eat instead of getting poor Minerva all riled up, your food is growing cold”, Remus scolded, albeit good naturedly. Sometimes, he really felt like the mother of a petulant child (or three, when they were students, sharing their room with James and Peter). 

Well, maybe it was thanks to Remus that Sirius managed to make something of himself after all. Remus was always there to prevent him from getting in too much trouble. And, obviously, he was always there to comfort him, to make him laugh when he was at the verge of crying (which wasn’t happening often but still). Remus was one of his best mates, but he had something that James and Peter had not, something more.

“Padfoot”, Remus called out, snapping his fingers in front of his friend’s face, which awoke him from his day-dream. 

“Sorry, I was just thinking.”

“Oh God”, be careful, wouldn’t want your brain to overheat. 

Sirius glared at his friend, expressing the fact that he didn’t find his joke particularly funny.

“Jackass”, he muttered under his breath. 

Sirius suddenly realised Remus had made fun of him twice today. However, Sirius still hadn’t done anything to defend himself… It was only morning… it let him more time than the prankster he was really needed to think of something, he pondered while eating (or more like swallowing) his breakfast. 

“Pads, we are going to be late if we don’t go now.”

“And so what? It’s not as if we could get punished for it anyway” 

“Well, you do as you like, irresponsible git, but I’m going now”, Remus announced with a stern look.

“Oh alright I’m going with you. I hate when you try to make me feel guilty like that”, Sirius reproached him.

“I am not trying, I am succeeding”, Remus said, smiling triumphantly.

“I hate it when you are right… Could it not happen that often?”

Both boys left the great hall, after most of the students and other teachers had. They continued to chat animatedly until they were forced to part ways: Sirius going outside for the first year flying lesson and Remus going up the stairs for the third year Defence Against the Dark Arts class. 

They would join for lunch, as every other day, and then part ways again, and then eat dinner side by side and go back to their room, which was the only teacher’s room occupied by more than one person… In fact, it was not made to be used that way but Remus and Sirius, used to sleep in the same room since they were eleven, transferred the bed of one of the room they had been given to the other room, which they had been sharing ever since. In other words, they were glued by the hip, which didn’t go unnoticed… we will go back to that fact a bit later.

However, something was not quite right on that day. Indeed, Sirius didn’t show up for dinner and Remus, even if he was trying to reassure himself with different rational reasons which would have prevented Sirius from coming, could not help but worry. He stayed at the table, picking at his food for a few minutes, until the worry became unbearable (yes, he did worry too much). He got up and fled without a word to the other teachers, who watched him go, giving him strange looks which he did not notice.

The students found this sudden departure very intriguing too, even more after they had noticed the very unusual absence of Mister Black, who was never far from Mister Lupin after the end of their respective classes. 

Remus wondered for a while where he would go first… The better thing to do would probably to go to the infirmary, for he would know if Sirius was hurt by going there first… So, that is where he went, even though he was dreading to find Sirius injured or hurt in any way. 

He ran there and arrived out of breath, almost bumping into Poppy. The latter, guessing without any trouble what he was there for, informed:

“Sirius is fine; he’s there with one of his pupils who broke his arm during a lesson.”

“Oh, thanks Poppy”, Remus answered with an embarrassed smile. 

He then spotted Sirius beside the injured boy’s bed. The latter approached Remus the moment he noticed his presence:

“Hey, Rem, what’s up? You’re not taking lunch?” 

Remus ignored his questions and hugged him tight. Dumbfounded, at first, Sirius then came back to earth and hugged Remus back, neither of them caring about the pupil staying a few meters away from them, watching the scene unfolding before him. 

“I thought you were hurt or… or…” Remus breathed.

“Hey, calm down Rem, I’m okay… Though, I may disappear more often if that’s what I get when I come back”, he joked, hoping to dissipate the tension.

Remus was definitely winning their ingoing prank war now that Sirius had forgotten about trying to get back at him for the way he laughed at him in the morning. How could he plan a prank to trick Remus when the werewolf was holding him close like this? Intoxicating him with his manly fragrance and… Oh, come on, get a grip Sirius. 

The moment was ruined by Poppy, who cleared her throat noisily while passing behind them. 

Both boys had a blush on their faces when they glanced at each other after having separated. Sirius broke the silence, in a vain attempt to hide his surging feelings:

“Well, thanks Poppy, we’ll go to Lunch now… Right Rem…Remus?” He corrected himself.

The aforementioned boy nodded and left the infirmary with Sirius. 

They didn’t talk about what had just happened, each man trying to forget it, afraid that the progressive changes in their relationships would come to ruin it. Though, the night succeeded in ruining their effort to ignore the recent events. 

Indeed, Sirius woke up in the middle of the night, his sleep interrupted by whimpers coming from the bed next to his. 

Remus was having one of his terrible before-full-moon nightmares. Well, that is what Sirius thought. 

He went out of his bed and neared Remus’. Then, he tried calling his name to wake him up… Of course, it was a total failure. When Remus whimpered, Sirius, getting more and more worried, shook him, which managed to wake him up. 

Remus looked disoriented, so his friend asked him:

“Remus, are you okay”

“Mmh, yeah… ‘d just like a glass of water”, he mumbled.

“I’ll go and fetch it for you”, announced Sirius.

“No!” Remus exclaimed, suddenly very much awake, “I’ll go myself…”

“Ok… If that’s so important for you…” Sirius answered, quite put off by Remus’ peculiar attitude. 

In fact, Remus was behaving so oddly because he had just had the hottest wet dream of his whole life. Wet dream which was starring Sirius as a bonus, his since-first-year-male friend Sirius… 

Now, he was blushing furiously, impossibly embarrassed. He tried to cool off, hoping he wouldn’t need a cold shower in order to do so because, let’s face it, it would look a bit suspicious to take a shower in the middle of the night. 

Remus came back from the bathroom a few minutes later, with his glass of water, and Sirius proposed:

“I can sleep with you if you want, like we used to do when you had a nightmare.”

“No!” Remus snapped, which brought a frown on his friend’s face. 

“Alright, no need to be so harsh”, Sirius answered sadly. 

Remus instantly regretted his unfair answer. After all, Sirius had been nothing but nice to him with this proposition, which Remus would have liked to accept very much even if he couldn’t, and he had pushed him away in quite a brusque way because the last thing he needed right now was to have the object of his dream lying beside him in his tiny bed. Or… maybe he needed it… and that was where the problem stood.

He was thinking about going to Sirius to apologise. However, the boy had already went to bed and drawn the curtains, expressing that he didn’t want to talk any more about what had just occurred. 

Well, he’ll come around, thought Remus, used to these little spats between the marauders. 

In the morning, after having awakened from a restless sleep, Remus went to Sirius nonetheless. 

“Hey, Siri…”

The animagus didn’t respond. However, he looked at him as if to say “go on”, so Remus did just that.

“I’d like to apologise about… the way I acted yesterday. You didn’t deserve it and I’m sorry. In fact, you deserved quite the opposite.”

“Don’t worry about it Rem, everything’s forgiven… I know it is hard for you when the fool moon is only a few days apart”, Sirius reassured him, dropping the hurt best friend act.

“Thank you for bearing with me”, Remus said gratefully, hugging his best friend. 

After they had separated, Sirius started tentatively:

“Though, there is something I’d like to know if you don’t mind me asking…”

“Of course, what is it?” Oh, how he would regret saying that…

“Well, you snapped yesterday and… while it is not really surprising, what is, on the other hand, is that it is at me that you snapped… which almost never happened before yesterday…”

“Eeer… I guess it’s because there wasn’t anyone else around to be angry with…” Remus was suddenly glad that his lying skills had improved during his scholarship with the marauders.

“Yes, but still, I think there was something else… It was about the dream wasn’t it? You started acting very oddly the moment you woke up…”

Damn Sirius and his ability to read in Remus as if he were an open book. 

“Well, yes, I suppose you’re right,” Remus abdicated.

“So Moony, what was it you dreamt about?” A very concerned Sirius asked.

Remus didn’t answer his question immediately, seemingly mortified.

“Are you blushing?“ He asked… now surprised. 

“No, not at all, don’t know where you fished that idea”… Remus lied, trying to hide his face without being too obvious (a lost battle, of course). 

“Merlin, you are totally blushing!” Sirius insisted with a knowing smile.

Remus decided to ignore him once more, looking everywhere but in his direction. 

“Hey Moony… You didn’t have a nightmare last night. Did you?”

“Ugh, no I didn’t”, answered Remus through gritted teeth, barely hiding his annoyance.

“Was it something… how can I say… hotter?” He asked, wiggling his eyebrows… 

He paused for dramatic effect. Seeing that Remus was still unresponsive, he continued seriously (no pun intended): 

”Did you have a wet dream Remus?” 

“Oh, bugger… Yes I did! Are you happy now?” Remus Exclaimed, knowing he wouldn’t have escaped the situation anyway. 

“No, I would like to know who was in that fantasy of yours…” A smirking Sirius declared, a mischievous glint in his eyes. 

He was acting smug at the moment but, in fact, he was extremely jealous of whoever was in that dream and caught himself wishing he was the one his friend (probably straight friend, not that Remus had ever been particularly clear on the matter) had fantasised about. 

“No, you are asking too much of me there Sirius”, Remus said in a firm voice. 

“Oh, come on Moony… Don’t be a buzz-kill”, Sirius pleaded with pouty lips, really wanting to know who his best friend (who was more than that, to be honest) was attracted to.

“I said no, don’t push the issue Sirius please”, Remus requested. 

The animagus sighed dramatically but did as he was told nonetheless.

A few days later, Sirius took his seat beside Remus during lunch, as always, and asked:

“We are going to the Christmas dance right?” 

“Well yes, I suppose…” Remus answered, not particularly happy about it, it seemed. 

“Why are you looking so… unenthusiastic about the dance? You always loved Christmas”, Sirius questioned, puzzled. 

“It’s just… it will be the day after next month’s full moon, so I’m not sure I’ll be… physically able to go. And even if I were, I’m not sure I’ll be in the best shape”, Remus explained quite dejectedly. 

Sirius had an apologetic look etched upon his handsome features.

“I’m so sorry Remy, I should have remembered.” 

Plus, it was the full moon tonight and Remus was quite stressed out. Though, Sirius was there for him, obviously. 

So, Remus woke up quite beaten up, but it had been far worse at times… before his friends became animagi to help him during his transformations. 

Sirius carried him to the infirmary, as always and stayed with him until he had to give his lessons, missing breakfast, which meant something coming from Sirius Black. 

At lunch, he ate as fast as he could and fetched some chocolate for Remus but, as he was getting up from his seat, he was stopped by a student.

“Sorry Mr Black, would you happen to know where Mr Lupin is please?”

“Er, yes, he is at the infirmary”, he answered.

“Oh, okay. Can you give this essay to him please? I didn’t give it back the day it was due and he told me to give it to him today.” 

Sirius looked quite surprised and then frowned. The student, understanding his reaction said flatly:

“What? You were not leaving to see him?” As if he knew perfectly well that it was the exact reason why Sirius was leaving… which it was in fact. 

“Ugh, yes, yes I was”, he admitted, taking the essay from the student, kind of annoyed by the fact everyone could read into his actions so easily.

Once he arrived at the infirmary, he talked about this incident to Remus, who declared:

“Well, it is not as if it were surprising. I mean, we are always together so…”

“Yes, I know, but still… they could pretend they hadn’t noticed it… “

“Oh, don’t be childish. You’ll get over it.” 

Sirius stuck his tongue out at him… Way to behave like an adult! 

A few minutes later, Remus shivered from cold. So, naturally, Sirius got under the covers and held him… Supposedly to warm him… Maybe.

“Sirius, you’ll be late for the match if you don’t leave now”, Remus informed him half-heartedly.

“I don’t care, I’m not even referee, can you believe it?”

Well, it wasn’t that hard to believe… The match was involving Gryffindor… and it was against Slytherin… So, as everyone knew that Sirius was the only Black having been sorted into the former and not the latter, it was understandable that they asked for another referee. 

“You’re going to watch anyway, don’t you?” Remus asked, suspicious. He was sensing through Sirius’ tone that he was planning something.

“I’m not sure… don’t see the point”, he mumbled.

“But Sirius, you have to go! First, you love Quidditch, and second, if you miss it, people will start talking. They’ll know you stayed with me because there is no other reason why you’d have missed a match.”

“And so? That is not that big of a deal.”

“Of course it is. Everyone knows how important the Quidditch cup is to you. If you didn’t go just because of me, what would it look like?”

“Don’t you dare say “just because of you”, you know perfectly well that you are more important to me than Quidditch. You’re one of my best mates Rem!”

“Yes, I understand Padfoot, but other people don’t.” 

“And I don’t care about those people. I’m staying and that’s final.”

Remus would have continued to argue… but he wanted Sirius there so… if his mind was set on it, who was Remus to persuade him to go (he was just the most important person in Sirius’ life… no big deal). 

Meanwhile, on the Gryffindor terraces, where the absence of Sirius was noticed first, people did talk. 

The student who knew that Remus was at the infirmary told the others Sirius was probably still with him, which managed to surprise them… even if they were always together. They didn’t think their bond was so deep that Sirius would miss a Gryffindor against Slytherin match just because Remus could not go… it wasn’t as if the man were on the verge of death. 

During the match, a Gryffindor player was injured, so a student ran to look for Miss Pomfrey. And, even if Remus and Sirius had closed the former’s bed curtains, a gap between the two ends of it enabled the aforementioned student to see them in a compromising position, as they were still embracing each other. 

This student reported what he saw to his friends at dinner:

“Henry, why are you looking so… absent?”

“Oh, it’s nothing…” He paused.

“It’s just… This afternoon, I found Mr Black in Mr Lupin’s infirmary bed… with Mr Lupin of course… Do you think they are together?”

“Well, I don’t know but… if they are not, they probably soon will be… I mean, they are acting more than friendly with each other.”

“True… I think we should keep what we saw to ourselves though… you know what the Slytherins would make of this.”

It was a wise decision… However, you certainly know that it is the kind of decisions hard to keep in a school full of gossipy teenagers.

Soon, all the Gryffindors knew, and then, some of other houses’ pupils overheard Gryffindors talking about it… and then, the whole school was speculating and observing both the teachers. 

Sirius and Remus discovered it quite quickly too, as they started to hear giggles and girls whispering things like “they’d be so cute!” or seeing some of them disappointed (of course, they were the youngest teachers, both of them twenty-four years old and they were both gorgeous in their own style). They were also confronted to some sneers, sadly. 

One evening, they were both in Remus’ classroom as he had to correct some essays:

“You know Pads, I’m not really sure that you being there is a good idea… I mean… people are already talking and…”

“Moony, we have always done things this way, so I’m not leaving and… as you said, people are already talking so, what’s the point in not staying together now? It’s a bit too late, don’t you think?” Sirius pointed out. 

“Yes, you may be right”, Remus admitted, despite not looking completely convinced.

He then continued, in a suddenly animated speech:

“I can’t believe people would think that. We can’t be friend without them imagining that we shag or that we are together or whatever the hell it is they say about us!”

Remus was so furious about these rumours because, strangely, he would like them to be true. However, they were not, and had very little chance to be, in his opinion. So, he had to support them without even having the comfort that really being with Sirius would bring. 

Sirius, who kept silent after Remus’ outburst, said tentatively:

“Well, we don’t really behave as simple friends would…”

“Yes, but just because we are more than simple friends doesn’t mean we are lovers…” Sadly, he added in his mind.

“Itwouldbegreatifitdidmeanthat”, said Sirius as fast as humanly possible.

“What? I didn’t quite catch what you said”, Remus replied with wide eyes.

Sirius took a deep breath and started a bit slower:

“I said it would be great if it meant we were lovers…”

Seeing that Remus was shocked into silent mode, Sirius continued:

“In fact, I always felt differently about you. And, I’ve been attracted physically to you for a long time… since we were in our fifth year I guess… with the raging hormones and all… But, I denied it until we were out of school, because it was simpler this way I guess… Then, after having admitted to myself that I fancied you in a non-friendly manner, I didn’t have the guts to tell you how I felt… I really wanted to but we re-entered Hogwarts as teachers and everything would have been too complicated… However, I guess I can tell you now because… everyone’s talking about us, so I don’t see why I should hide my feelings towards you anymore.”

Remus still didn’t say anything but he came nearer Sirius and the latter, stressing out, added:

“Though, I hope it will not ruin our friendship… You know, I totally understand that you don’t feel the same way… it doesn’t need to make things awkward and”

“Sirius, you are rambling” Remus interrupted, with a wild and genuine smile.

“Oh, sorry”, Sirius apologised, looking down.

“Look at me Siri”, his best friend asked.

He did as he was asked and then, Remus’ lips were on his as he kissed him passionately. And, even though Sirius wasn’t expecting it, he responded eagerly to the kiss. 

A few minutes later, Sirius made a sudden realisation:

“Moony, it was me you dreamed about right?”

“Yes”, he blushed, which made Sirius grin smugly.

When the Christmas dance came, Sirius and Remus were still hiding their relationship; they were also hopelessly in love and still hadn’t confessed it to each other. 

Remus decided to come to the party even if he was still recovering from the full moon, because he knew perfectly well that Sirius would have decided to stay with him or would have felt guilty all night for going to the party without him.

For once, Sirius was not invited to dance by half the female population of Hogwarts, even though there still were giggling girls staring at him with flirty eyes. The fact was that every single student suspected something was going on between Sirius and Remus, so they were waiting to see how the situation would evolve… Well, some students had… less mature reactions about it, but both the teachers were trying their best to ignore it. 

“Sirius… Are you alright?” Remus asked, snapping Sirius out of the daze he was seemingly in.

“Hm? Oh, yes, ‘m alright Moons…” He answered after quite some time.

“Sirius”, scolded Remus, watching him intently.

“What? Told you I was alright.”

Remus rolled his eyes:

“I know when you’re lying Sirius, we’ve known each other since we were eleven.”

“And so? I am freaking alright! Okay?” Sirius snapped. 

His boyfriend sighed and got up, knowing nothing could be done when Sirius was in that bad of a mood. Though, he was quickly stopped by a hand around his arm:

“Wait Remy… I’m sorry.” 

Remus did not sit down immediately, so Sirius added:

“Stay… please…” 

He was feeling guilty for snapping like that the day just after the full-moon. 

“So, what’s the matter with you? Will you tell me or what?”

“I’d rather not, thanks”, tried Sirius with a hesitant smile.

“That is so not working”, Remus informed.

“But, come on Moony, I don’t want to annoy you with that right now; you have enough on your plate already.”

“Well, you not telling me what your problem is may be worse than the actual problem.”

“Oh, okay, fine, I’ll tell you…” He paused.

“Right now Sirius”, Remus pressed. 

“Okay. It’s just… I see all these couples dancing and… we’re there together but we can’t dance, we can’t kiss each other… and, it’s stupid but… I’d like to be able to do all those things with you, no matter where we are or who is watching. I love you and I’d like the world to know it… to know how bloody lucky I am to have someone like you…”

When Sirius turned to look at Remus, who was seated beside him, he saw a tear rolling on his cheek. 

“Come on Moony, don’t cry, I’m sorry, I knew I shouldn’t have told you…” Sirius said, wiping his boyfriend’s tears. 

Remus took Sirius by the arm and dragged him to the dance floor, which resulted in Sirius looking at him in confusion.

Remus hugged him suddenly and whispered:

“I love you too, you daft pup.” 

Then, he separated himself from his lover, only to plant his lips on the other man’s. Remus was the most hesitant about letting people know about them, having always been quite uncomfortable about getting people’s attention. Though, Sirius’ love declaration had moved him deeply and, suddenly, he didn’t want to hide what they had anymore. 

They stopped kissing after a fair amount of time, making sure everyone had time to see. Sirius smiled a breath-taking smile:

“You’re the best Remy.”

His modest boyfriend blushed, obviously. 

Suddenly, the silence, which was reigning since they had kissed, was broken by a “it took you long enough” by no other than McGonagall. 

Both boys turned towards her with surprised expressions on their faces. 

And then, fangirls, awakening from their shocked state, erupted into cheers, and giggles and they… well, they fangirled. Some students, sadly but obviously, reacted quite badly, but they were a minority and, anyway, nor Remus neither Sirius would let anything ruin their happiness. Plus, it didn’t change much. They were so obvious that more than three quarters of the school was sure they’d finish together. Don’t repeat it but, some teachers even bet on how long it would take them to get together and, these bets had been going on since the boys were students in Hogwarts. 

As McGonagall said, it did take them long enough. However, Sirius and Remus loved to think that it was better late than never.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for the probably poor quality of this thing and the clichés it contains, bear with my young self who wrote this years ago ^^ 
> 
> Hugs and kisses C=


End file.
